She didn't choose Xu Ling, but instead saw Zhao Yan's performance on the show "Travel Our Hometown."
A person who wasn't afraid of human remains, if Xu Ling had come and seen it, she would have likely fainted.
Therefore, Zhao Yan was more suitable, not to mention He Jing's recommendation.
"Zhao Yan, Zhao Yan, don't disappoint me."
With that thought, Zhang Dan picked up her phone and made a call.
"That trending topic can go up now."
...
Zhao Yan hadn't expected the efficiency of the "Chasing the Culprit Today" program team. She had just agreed, and a special car was already taking her to the program site.
After packing her things, Zhao Yan and Wu Jiaxin got into the car.
Only one person from the program team and the driver came to pick her up.
"Sister Zhao, can I come with you?" Lin Miaomiao asked.
Wu Jiaxin said from the side, "Sister Zhao, let Miaomiao come with us. Miaomiao can do makeup, and she's very good at it. It would be great if she came with us!"
Zhao Yan thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay, you can come with me."
Lin Miaomiao said, "Okay."
After getting into the car, Zhao Yan took out her phone and started watching the variety show "Chasing the Culprit Today."
After watching two episodes, Zhao Yan understood what the variety show was about.
"Chasing the Culprit Today" investigates clues at the scenes where murderers committed their crimes.
The program team also incorporated suspenseful elements, and it was a high-scoring variety show with a rating of 9.6.
"Wow! Sister Zhao, you just joined Weibo and you're already trending!" Wu Jiaxin exclaimed.
Hearing Wu Jiaxin's surprised tone, Zhao Yan was also a little surprised.
Weibo had a high download rate and many active users.
How could she have trended immediately after joining Weibo?
"What is the trending topic about?" Zhao Yan asked.
Wu Jiaxin glanced at it and said, "The third trending topic is 'Zhao Yan Replaces Xu Ling for 'Chasing the Culprit Today' Slot.'"
"The fourth trending topic is 'Who is Zhao Yan?'"
"The fifth trending topic is 'Xu Ling posts on Weibo subtly criticizing the 'Chasing the Culprit Today' program team.'"
Zhao Yan took Wu Jiaxin's phone and read through all the trending topics. She immediately understood.
She clicked on Xu Ling's Weibo. The first post was a picture of a back door.
It was a subtle jab at her, implying Zhao Yan had used a backdoor to get into the program.
Zhao Yan had just opened Weibo. Her first post wasn't from her, but an automated one from Weibo itself, congratulating her on joining.
On that single post, there were over 20,000 comments.
Clicking to read them.
"Get out of the 'Chasing the Culprit Today' program team, you don't deserve this show."
"I really don't know if the person in charge of 'Chasing the Culprit Today' is blind to invite someone like this as a guest, what makes her qualified!"
"With her on this show, I'm not watching."
"I heard from a friend that Zhao Yan is the director's mistress for 'Chasing the Culprit,' that's how she got on."
"There's no way, if it wasn't a backdoor, I wouldn't believe it."
Lin Miaomiao, worried that Zhao Yan's mindset would be affected, quickly reached out and covered her phone.
"Sister Zhao, don't scroll down anymore, these comments are very toxic."
Zhao Yan smiled and said, "It's okay, these comments mean nothing to me."
Even more toxic comments wouldn't affect her in the slightest.
Zhao Yan knew that these trending topics were definitely arranged by the program team.
"Chasing the Culprit Today" needed attention, and she could create topics.
Topics led to attention.
"Miaomiao, don't worry about Sister Zhao, Sister Zhao is fine," Wu Jiaxin said with a smile.
She had also watched "Chasing the Culprit Today" with Zhao Yan.
The show was quite interesting.
"Miss Zhao, we're almost at the program team's location," the driver said.
Zhao Yan said "Okay." It was past seven in the evening, and the streets were crowded.
After the car stopped, Lin Miaomiao quickly opened the car door.
Zhao Yan said thank you and got out of the car.
More than twenty people walked towards the car, led by a woman who looked to be in her thirties.
Zhao Yan, who often read faces, knew that this woman was not just in her thirties, but closer to fifty. She looked young because she took very good care of herself.
"Hello, Yan Yan."
"I'm Zhang Dan, the person in charge of this program. Zhang Dan took a bouquet of flowers from her assistant and handed them to Zhao Yan."
Zhao Yan took the flowers and said to Zhang Dan, "Thank you, Director."
"Nice to see you again, Xiao Zhao." He Jing raised his hand and smiled at Zhao Yan.
Zhao Yan shook hands with He Jing.
"We have the same last name, I'm Zhao Lingjun."
A tall and handsome man extended his hand and said to Zhao Yan.
"Wow, so tall, with great skin, and such a small face!" Lin Miaomiao whispered in awe, looking at the handsome guy as if mesmerized.
Wu Jiaxin, although also wanting to exclaim, didn't want to lose face in front of Zhao Yan, so she gently nudged Lin Miaomiao's shoulder with her elbow.
"Calm down."
Lin Miaomiao then realized many people were looking at her and blushed deeply.
Zhao Yan understood. Zhao Lingjun was a highly popular singer who had sung many hit singles.
He was a talented celebrity singer.
"Hello, I'm Li Bao Rui, you can call me Bao Bao, or Rui Rui," a cute girl said, extending her hand.
"Hello, Bao Bao," Zhao Yan replied.
"I'm Shen Fei," a middle-aged man said to Zhao Yan.
Zhao Yan had seen him before; he often appeared in various comedies and had even been on the Spring Festival Gala many times.
This program truly had big stars.
Even one person could generate a lot of buzz.
It was no wonder many people questioned why she was able to join this program.
Not to mention the netizens' doubts, even Zhao Yan herself hadn't expected to be able to join.
She could understand why the pork company sponsored "Travel Our Hometown."
But for this program, many popular actors and celebrities couldn't get on even if they wanted to, yet they still chose her.
She found it quite surreal.
After greeting a few staff members, apart from He Jing, whom she had met before, everyone else was a first-time meeting.
"Our program only has a general direction; the rest needs to be completed by the program guests."
Zhang Dan held a notebook, and the camera shifted from her to the five guests.
Zhang Dan said solemnly.
"Just the day before yesterday, a murder occurred by the Linghu River. An elderly person in their sixties was dismembered into many pieces, and these pieces were thrown into the river. Later, they were discovered by workers clearing the river channel."
"As five guests with different expertise, you will use your clues to deduce why the killer did this."
"Also, what was used to dismember the elderly person."
"Can the murder weapon be found at the scene?"
"Each guest can use their own judgment."
After Zhang Dan finished speaking, the camera turned to the guests' faces.
He Jing asked in surprise, "Director, is this murder scene truly the actual murder site?"
Zhang Dan: "Yes!"
The guests gasped in unison.